Letters to the Editor: A ‘shame and humiliation’ against people with disabilities
Equality Not Care should remain 'at the forefront of plans for disabled and older people'. File picture
After the referendum campaign, we thought the Government might have understood our claim in the Equality Not Care group for “rights not charity” and “rights not care”.
The programme for government on disability laid out a muddled and incoherent package, much of it in a mirage of a vague vision rather than definitive outcomes.
It was full of ‘cop-out’ phrases — “consider”, “explore”, “work towards”, “strive” — that sent out messages of prevarication, delay, and, in short, attempts to avoid handing any human rights to disabled people or older people.
Reading that even legislation on safeguarding of vulnerable adults will only be “explored” is outrageous.
The case of Emily, an older woman raped in a nursing home, as well as the long-standing delay in publishing the inquiry report on the Grace case, should have placed safeguarding of elderly and disabled adults as urgent and top of the agenda. Instead, we will have an “exploration” of safeguarding.
It’s a total disrespect of all adult disabled people and older people.
We insist that disabled people require a minister of disability, working on a rights-based platform for provision of services.
We insist that Equality Not Care remains at the forefront of plans for disabled and older people.
We reject the Government’s programme for disability as a shame and humiliation against us.
There is a recurring phrase mentioned many times in sacred scripture, which is “do not be afraid” — like a message of reassurance or an exhortation to the faithful from their leader.
How refreshing it was to see and hear an Episcopalian bishop directly addressing the newly-elected US president on some of the unjust policies he hopes to bring forward — policies that will cause worry and hardship for vulnerable and under-resourced members of society.
Courage is a prized gift and we badly need more of it in today’s world.
The programme for government, whereby a transport police force will be created, needs to be accelerated, given the issues we hear of every day on our transport system, including complaints by commuters who use it and those who operate it.
There is 2,733km of railway track, including 53km of electrified track and 362km of freight-only track, while Bus Éireann operates 228 bus routes which include 5,028 stops, all of which will include the necessary building for repairs, administration, or warehousing, and so on.
While it wouldn’t be difficult to transpose the words “transport police” into any or all legislation already in place, either by amendment or statutory instrument, the issue for the next Government will be recruitment, training, investment, and resource allocation.
Training of a new transport police could be done on a temporary basis from the Garda College, Templemore, or from one of the many army barracks dotted around the country, some of which lie vacant.
It does not need to be resourced from An Garda Síochána but from a new recruitment process, with proper background checks carried out as expeditiously as possible, unlike the delays we have seen in the Garda training and recruitment process.
This force would be mandated to carry out investigations and arrests on behalf of the transport system, its properties, and its passengers, the length and breadth of the country.
This, like other ideas put forward, should be realised as soon as practicably possible, given the deficit in resources in An Garda Síochána, who are being pulled in all directions.
A dedicated and committed transport police force should be on the Government’s agenda and should be led by experienced and well-trained former Garda officers who would be part of the initial process in order to bed it down and ensure that its policies and structures are firmly in place.
The issue of a transport police must not be placed on the back foot any longer. It has to be a priority.
It’s been reported by the Irish Business and Employers’ Confederation (Ibec) that Ireland’s economic outlook is good. The news for 2024 is that we have great momentum going into 2025 . We are seeing growth, while moderate, compared to recent years.
It’s predicted that we will see GDP grow in the order of about 2%. Ibec is not predicting any particular great drama in the Irish economy, despite all the headwinds that are out there. We are a small, open economy that can be buffeted by world events.
However, we need to work towards ensuring that our productivity and competitiveness remain strong. In essence, they really are the domestic issues that many commentators have been talking about over the last number of years.
We must start delivering on infrastructure (housing, energy, water), which I believe should be this country’s main focus.
I am bewildered as to why we have failed to do that up until now. I am aware that one must appreciate the scale at which the Irish economy has grown. Let’s not forget that most global economies in the last 10 years have being doing well apropos to increasing their labour supply.
Over the last 15 years, we have had nearly a million extra people at work in the Irish economy.
Most surprisingly, we have had half a million extra since covid alone, in the last half decade. One notes that a lot of these workers have gone into export-orientated jobs in tech and finances.
I believe we don’t have the same proportion delivering the physical infrastructure.
I think that this is a real issue and it seems to me that the window of opportunity may now be closing. May I suggest that we should we getting on with it.
